This application is based upon and claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Applications No. 11-89785 filed on Mar. 30, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to an air conditioning apparatus including a detachable filter for purifying conditioned air, which is suitably used for conditioning air in a vehicle compartment.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a vehicle air conditioning apparatus, a filter is generally accommodated in a case, which defines an air passage therein, together with a blower and a heat exchanger. The filter is detachable through an opening of the case for cleaning or exchange, and includes soft filter medium disposed within a rigid support case. The support case prevents the filter medium from being deformed by air flow resistance.
On the other hand, however, the support case inhibits the filter medium from being flexibly deformed (for example, bent) for detachment, and requires s space equal to or larger than the size thereof in a filter detachment direction. Since the case of the air conditioning apparatus is usually installed between dash board and an instrument panel, it is difficult to secure such a large space. Therefore, opposing parts such as a glove component must be detached before the filter is detached. These works lengthen the time for detaching the filter.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problem. An object of the present invention is to enable detachment of a filter in a narrow space and shorten a work time required for the detachment.
According to the present invention, an air conditioning apparatus has a filter, which is capable of being bent and is disposed to cross an air passage defined in a case. The case has an opening portion for detaching the filter therefrom, and includes a first support member for supporting a peripheral portion of the filter and a second support member for supporting a central portion of the filter. The first and second support members prevent the filter from being deformed in the case. Further, because the filter can be bent, the filter can be detached from the case through the opening portion readily in a narrow space, resulting in shortened work time for detaching the filter.